Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year

The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year is an annual college basketball award presented to the top defensive player in men's basketball in the Pac-12 Conference. The winner is selected by conference coaches, who are not allowed to vote for players on their own team.[1] The award began in 1984,[2] when the conference consisted of 10 teams and was known as the Pacific-10.[3] It stopped being issued starting in 1988 but was restarted in 2008.[4][5] The conference added two teams and became the Pac-12 in 2011.[3]

Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
Awarded for	the top defensive player in men's basketball in the Pac-12
Country	United States
Presented by	Pac-12 Conference
First awarded	1983
Currently held by	Tyler Bey, Colorado

Jorge Gutiérrez won with California in 2012 and became the first player to also win the Pac-12 Player of the Year in the same season.[2] Gary Payton won both awards in separate seasons with Oregon State, capturing the defensive honor as a freshman in 1987 and the conference player of the year as a senior in 1990.[6][7] He credited Beavers coach Ralph Miller with molding him into a standout defender. Payton played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and became the only point guard to be named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.[6] His son, Gary Payton II, later played with Oregon State as well, and was voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016. He and Matisse Thybulle (2018, 2019) are the only repeat winners of the award.[8]

Gary Payton II won the award in 2015 and 2016.

Matisse Thybulle won the award in 2018 and 2019.

Season	Player	School	Class	Ref
1983–84	Butch Hays	California	Senior	[9]
1984–85	Nigel Miguel	UCLA	Senior	[5]
1985–86	Keith Morrison	Washington State	Senior	[3]
1986–87	Gary Payton	Oregon State	Freshman	[4]
2007–08	Russell Westbrook	UCLA	Sophomore	[5]
2008–09	Taj Gibson	USC	Junior	[10]
2009–10	Seth Tarver	Oregon State	Senior	[3]
2010–11	Marcus Simmons	USC	Senior	[10]
2011–12	Jorge Gutiérrez	California	Senior	[9]
2012–13	André Roberson	Colorado	Senior	[3]
2013–14	Jordan Bachynski	Arizona State	Senior	[3]
2014–15	Gary Payton II	Oregon State	Junior	[4]
2015–16	Gary Payton II (2)	Oregon State	Senior	[11]
2016–17	Jordan Bell	Oregon	Junior	[12]
2017–18	Matisse Thybulle	Washington	Junior	[8]
2018–19	Matisse Thybulle (2)	Washington	Senior	[13]
2019–20	Tyler Bey	Colorado	Junior	[14]

Winners by school

School	Winners	Years
Oregon State	4	1987, 2010, 2015, 2016
California	2	1984, 2012
UCLA	2	1985, 2008
USC	2	2009, 2011
Colorado	2	2013, 2020
Washington	2	2018, 2019
Arizona State	1	2014
Oregon	1	2017
Washington State	1	1986
Arizona	0	—
Stanford	0	—
Utah	0	—

References

1. "2015–16 Handbook" (PDF). Pac-12 Conference. pp. 105–06. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
2. Faraudo, Jeff (March 5, 2012). "Basketball: Gutierrez sweeps awards — is named Pac-12 Player of Year, Defensive Player of Year". ibabuzz.com. Bay Area News Group. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
3. "Pac-12 Conference 2015–16 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. 2015. p. 5. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
4. Letourneau, Connor (March 9, 2015). "Gary Payton II, Oregon State Beavers guard, named first team All-Pac-12, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
5. "UCLA Dominates Pac-10 Player of the Year Honors". CSTV.com. March 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
6. Gress, Steve (September 4, 2013). "Looking back at The Glove". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
7. Buker, Paul (August 11, 2009). "Ex-Oregon State great Gary Payton will be inducted into Oregon Sports Hall of Fame". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
8. "2017-18 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference individual honors" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 5, 2018. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018.
9. Finley, Patrick (March 6, 2012). "Pac-12 basketball: Player of the Year starts with 'D'". Arizona Daily Star. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
10. Lev, Michael (March 7, 2011). "USC's Marcus Simmons named Pac-10 DPOY". The Orange County Register. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016.
11. Letourneau, Connor (March 7, 2016). "Cal's Jaylen Brown named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 8, 2016.
12. "2016-17 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference Honors" (Press release). Pac-12. March 6, 2017. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017.
13. "Pac-12 announces 2018-19 Men's Basketball annual major awards" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 11, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
14. [[[Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball|Colorado]] "Pac-12 announces 2019-20 Men's Basketball annual major awards"] Check |url= value (help) (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 9, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2020.